Description
In this webinar, Sarika Bansal, editorial director of AFAR Media, an award-winning print and digital publication focused on positive impact, experiential travel; Uwern Jong, editor-in-chief and co-founder of OutThere magazine, a luxury and experiential travel journal that began for the LGBTQ+ community and has evolved into a leading voice of inclusivity; Georgina Lawton, a travel journalist, speaker and author whose personal story is the subject of her first book, Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong; spoke to travel journalist and Adventure.com senior editor Meera Dattani in an action-orientated discussion that aimed to equip and empower travel journalists to write relevant, interesting, impactful travel features. More on the panellists below.
About the topic
Travel writing is one area of journalism where we can use our voices and words to not only show where/what might make a great holiday or vacation, and communicate how fun, interesting or adventurous a place is, but also use that platform to give social, cultural and historical context, amplify marginalised communities and stories, and champion travel as a genuine force for good. But sometimes, writers lack confidence to pitch such stories, or are reluctant to push back on edits, or are unsure what ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ be in a travel piece... which can result in so-called ‘puff pieces’. In this webinar, we hope to discuss the issues facing travel writing today, and offer tips and advice to travel journalists who want to make their travel writing relevant, impactful, and above all, a great read.
This was the fifth in a series of webinars curated and hosted by Travel Writing Webinars founder Meera Dattani and is sponsored by Adventure Travel Networking (ATN), an award-winning organisation founded by Pru Goudie that promotes adventure and experiential travel with a positive impact. As well as an annual two-day hybrid Conference & Marketplace in London (2025 dates: 25 and 27 February), the twice-a-year spring/autumn ATN Media Meet-up connects the adventure travel community with key travel media during an informal networking event with a panel session. If you write about positive impact adventure/experiential travel, contact Pru via the webform.
Thanks also to Talking Travel Writing who support and promote these events. TTW is a Substack newsletter that promises to demystify the travel media for freelancers forging a career in travel writing. Follow on Twitter.
Recording and resources sent within a week of live event, whether you attend on the day or not.
About the panellists
Sarika Bansal is editorial director at AFAR Media and author and editor of Tread Brightly: Notes on Ethical Travel, whose bylines include the New York Times, Guardian and VICE. The founder and editor-in-chief of BRIGHT Magazine, an award-winning, solutions-oriented digital magazine focused on social change, she has mentored for the Aspen Institute’s New Voices Fellowship, incubated two social impact publications at Medium, developed curriculum at the Solutions Journalism Network, and been a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. A Harvard graduate, Sarika has lived on five continents, speaks four languages, and lives in a cottage in a forest in Nairobi, Kenya, with her husband and daughter.
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Uwern Jong is Experientialist®-in-Chief of OutThere magazine, a luxury and experiential travel journal rooted in diversity, discovery and discernment. An advocate for inclusive travel and fostering a more diverse and intersectional travel industry, Uwern leads landmark projects through OutThere and for tourism clients, including Icons of Inclusion, IGLTA Accredited and the LGBT+ Travel Symposium series. Co-Founder of Stockholm LGBT, and Brand Ambassador and Editor for the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s ‘Go Thai Be Free’ initiative, he consults on DEAI for brands such as Malta Tourism Authority, Belmond, Scott Dunn and Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Uwern was recently named one of Walpole’s 50 most influential people in British Luxury and TTG’s LGBT+ Trailblazer, alongside other journalism awards.
Follow on Instagram at @uwernjong and @outtheremag
Georgina Lawton is a journalist, speaker and author of the memoir, Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong and the travel book, Black Girls Take World: The Travel Bible for Black Women with Boundless Wanderlust. As a freelance travel writer she has been published in: Lonely Planet, Guardian, Time Out, the i paper, Independent and Travel+Leisure.
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Meera Dattani (host) is the founder of Travel Writing Webinars, senior editor at Adventure.com, and a freelance travel and culture journalist with bylines in National Geographic Traveller, Wanderlust, BBC Travel, Evening Standard, BBC Travel and others. Former Chair and Events Director of the British Guild of Travel Writers, she is also a mentor, awards judge, and a speaker and moderator on external panels about travel writing, DEI and the travel industry.
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